Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Almost Shameless: Fun with the buddy Hannibal Buress (and too many others to list in a title)

Hey guys… Tony Trimm here blogging about a small leg of shows I did with my good buds Hannibal Buress. Well not exactly about the shows but the stuff between the shows. Gotta say though, this particular trip was pretty awesome because I got to meet a lot of new peoples and get up with old friends.

Shout outs to my buddy Won Yup for the guest spot.

My journey began at Austin International Airport where the FunFunFun shuttle bus picked up myself and a few other acts that I failed to recognize. Except of course the guy sitting shotgun, David Cross.

My fanboy anxiety started to kick in, so i sat quietly behind him behaving like i was too cool for school and not eager to meet him. Instead, I imagine I looked more like a weirdo trying to sneak a photo op by pretending I was taking in the beautiful Austin landscape that surrounded me.

Finally snuck one in at the hotel check-in. Yes. I followed him to the front desk. This is me officially bordering restraining order behavior.

Accommodations were very efficient.

Dropped my luggage in the room and headed back down to the lobby to meet up with Hannibal.

Outside in the parking lot Hannibal pointed to a pedicab and said, "Let's hire a person."

Hannibal in the pedicab.

The pedicab person.

The pic I shot from the pedicab.

At artist check in, Scuba Steve greeted us with drink tickets, cigarettes and a V.I.P. hot dog card. The V.I.P. status granted infinite consumption of hot dogs throughout the day. Note... This picture was shot after Hannibal and I performed. Thus explaining why Scuba is dry and Hannibal is not.

Flying from Chicago to Austin in November feels like seasonal time travel. It made me realize that I don't quite miss the summer yet. Check back with me in Chicago in December though.

Random dude with remote control UFO

The Hannibal photo ops began shortly after we entered the VIP area. This was one of the only photos where the random Asian sidekick was asked to join in.

By the comedy tent, Hannibal conversed with an associate i found to look very familiar. After listening to the fella talk a bit, i finally realized who he was. He's the voice of Bob from Bob's Burgers Aka Coach McGuirk from Home Movies. My cartoon heroes in the flesh! Jon Benjamin.

His stand up did not disappoint.

Superchunk was the first music act I checked out. They were good. They reminded me of smoking cigarettes in suburban garages.

After checking a few songs, I hit up the hospitality tent to eat some adult food before i transitioned from day-drinking to night-drinking.

This is what artists do in the artist tent.

I met back up with Hannibal by the blue stage where we hung out with Bun B before he went up.

As intimidating as his rap persona may seem, he was a real class act. I'd let him babysit my kids if I had kids.

Bun made an incredible entrance. Take note of the DJ checking his cellphone at about 39 seconds.

You think Bun is hip to the camouflage comeback? Nah.

Met this guy back stage. I heard he's pretty fresh and happens to be a millionaire. Must be nice.

Dillon Francis or as Hannibal addressed him, "The electronica dude," played on the adjacent stage.

This was the point of the evening where festival exhaustion started settling in. The constant consumption of franks and beer didn't help either. So I passed by the Run DMC stage and snapped this real quick. Had to miss out on the old school rap nostalgia.

After freshening up and relaxing a bit, Hannibal and I headed toward a comedy club by the strip called the Velveeta Room. This time, we took a cab instead of a person.

I forgot the fellas last name, but Chris is a local comic in Austin. He quickly became a reoccurring character throughout our stay there. Also he kinda sticks out a bit.

We maxed some BBQ and Philly steaks from a food truck and headed to R7 to meet with Scuba Steve. A DJ duo called Mexicans with Guns were rocking a Día de los Muertos themed party.

I didn't get a chance to experience my surroundings because I was distracted by this beautiful photographer.

I lied by claiming I was doing a blog about beautiful photographers. It's nearly impossible to holler at a beautiful photographer when they are working. Goodbye forever beautiful photographer dream girl...

I stumbled back out to the strip and headed to the other side of the interstate where we ended up at some house party/bar/venue. I was puzzled by the free booze til i realized the party was sponsored by Sailor Jerry Rum and a sacrilegiously cinnamon flavored whiskey called Fireball.

I didn't catch the name of the band in the back yard. I didn't make an effort to either. They weren't bad or anything. Actually i was taking it all in and enjoying the fiery energy of youthful indie rock. Then i pulled the slacks up past my belly button and preceded into the lounge area.

The furniture fit the decor quite well.

The one-bathroom house quickly failed to accommodate the number of bladders about to burst. When I couldn't wait any longer, I ran across the street to use a proper venue restroom. There was a very somber acoustic singer/songwriter act on stage as I tip-toed behind the audience to relieve myself. I awkwardly snapped this pic real quick and headed back to the party across the street.

I was surprised to see the back yard had quickly transformed into an all out dance floor.

Hannibal with tiny pumpkin.

Finally decided to call it a night and snapped a pic of this dude rocking a massive dookie rope on my way out the door.

After a well-needed night of sleep, I headed back to the festival to meet up with the old buddies WHY?.

Josiah writes poems strangely

Even though I've traveled with these guys and seen their live show over 30 times, I still get a kick out of Yoni's stage antics. Plus it was good to see them at an outdoor setting playing for thousands.

After the WHY? set I headed back to the comedy tent to catch Wyatt Cenac from the Daily Show perform. I thoroughly enjoyed his stand up.

Backstage I finally got that David Cross photo op. Less creepily taken this time.

Notice how cool Saul Williams looks in the back smoking a square.

That's me trying not to make an awkward face. Fail.

I didn't get a good shot of the crowd. Judging by the way the comedy tent was completely engulfed by bodies, I'd say half that festival was there to see David Cross.

Several hot dogs and tall boys later, I went to check out Danny Brown. Dude was hype! He really knew how to work that stage.

Yay pictures

A$AP Rocky went on a short while later. Kids these days with their purp and swag and stuff.

After the festival, Hannibal wanted to do a couple drop ins. We hit up The Alamo and The New Movement. This pic was at the Alamo. I took a nice nap during the openers because the seating was hella cushiony and it was pitch black in there.

From this point of the night til the end a little more happened, but my phone died when Mos Def got on stage at an after party. So here's a quick recap in list form:

Took advantage of the "trailer hitch" deal that consisted of a shot of cinnamon flavored whiskey and a tall boy. Several times too many.

Saw Mannie Fresh again. He denied me on a second photo op because he had on the same shirt from the night before.

Chilled outside with Sofia and Ben.

Got a ride home from this nice woman Danielle.

Drank some more cinnamon flavored whiskey.

Sleep.

Here's that hastily shot photo of Mos Def

Back at Austin International Airport, I ate a disgusting breakfast burrito in hopes that the grease would help with the hangover and wash away the big red taste in my throat. As I shamefully consumed my food, I saw Reverend Run spending some quality time with his family. I wish I could've captured the disdain on his face when he got mobbed by all the fans.

Bored on the plane on my way to St. Louis I decided to catch up on current events via a Sky Miles catalog.

Accommodations were at the Hyatt at the Arch. Assuming by his shout out in a rap song, it's Nelly approved.

View from the room of the mighty Mississippi

We linked up with Kevin Barnett after we touched down in St. Louis. The venue was at a chapel on campus at Washington University. Here's a shot of Kevin hangin' in the preacher room like a baller!

I was a bit concerned about the enormous ceilings and how they might effect the acoustics of our musical bit of the set, but it ended up working out just fine.

Hannibal for free? Damn college kids get it too easy!

I sat up top on the balcony just to take pics showing how enormous this chapel really was.

Kevin killed it

Kevin introducing Hannibal

Hannibal rocked it for easily over an hour. It was very impressive.

Chicago comic Drew Michaels was in town doing a string of shows. He came through to the catch the set and then we bounced with him to an open mic at a spot called Nick's Pub.

This guy plays in Chicago all the time. Check him out. He's one of my favorites.

To my surprise, the bar allowed smoking indoors. I was super gassed about this until about 20 minutes later thinking, fuck smoking indoors!

Hannibal went before Kevin. So technically Kevin flipped the script on him for the opener slot.

It was like an artist convention in St. Louis going on. WHY? was to play the next night and Matt and Kim were in the U city area playing at the Pageant. Hannibal is friends with Matt and Kim so we went to go meet up with them after the show. We went around back to greet them but instead walked into a Matt mob.

Finally, Matt acknowledged Hannibal and handed him his all access pass and we tried to meet Kim via the back door. The security guard took one look at Hannibal, Kevin and I and disapprovingly said, "Not a chance man!" So we decided to wait for them around the front bar.

After a quick beer we headed a few doors down to a spot called Pin Up Bowl. Pretty dope late night spot. We bowled and played threes and drank and kicked it.

Back at the hotel I finished up my last cigarette while admiring the random kale planted in the flower bed and headed back to my room.

Fear and Loathingesque carpet

The next day we hopped in the rental car and headed toward Carbondale, where Hannibal and I went to school at Southern Illinois University. It was sort of like our trip down memory lane. The weather was pretty crumby the whole time we were in the midwest. Although we did stop at a Cracker Barrel for a country breakfast and meatloaf dinner to escape this mundane life for an hour.

After arriving at the cafe where we were set to play, my buddy Abe and his father Dean greeted me with hot tea and vegetarian cuisine. We sat around and reminisced and talked about iPhone apps.

He thought Cinemagram was only so-so.

I went and picked up Hannibal and we headed to the strip where we used to hang out. Carbondale was leveled by an inland hurricane since we've last been there so things have changed dramatically. This was the venue where I used to hold my weekly hip hop night. It used to be a dive. It's now a club.

By the time we got back, they had finished preparing the room. This is the back of the Longbranch Cafe. This is where I used to hold an open mic poetry night called, "Sunday School Sessions." Hannibal quickly took it over by hosting it and turning it into a sort of Late Night with Hannibal Buress thing. There was a lot of history in this room.

The people in the window were scared as I shot this. Borderline restraining order behavior strike two.

Local comedian T-Murph set the night off by doing a quick 15 minute set and getting the crowd warmed up.

People were stoked to see Hannibal do his thing. He hadn't been back since 2004. To say he's come along way is an understatement. I was proud to see him back on that stage. He commanded that crowd. Nobody dared to heckle. It almost felt like not a person even sneezed or coughed during the whole set.

Afterwards DJ Pickel and I were booked to spin an afterset at a spot I don't even want to mention for the sake of it's impending doom. Let's just call it Shitty McGee's. Immediately when I walked up to Shitty McGee's I realized we had chose the wrong spot. Even so, my good-hearted pal Pickel did his thing and we kicked it on a chill tip for a little while. Hannibal bounced early because he had to be up by the crack of dawn to catch his flight the next day.

Shitty McGee's didn't pay well, so to make up for it Abe invited us over to have at his microbrew collection that he purchased off a crackhead. True story.

Apparently even crackheads can enjoy a good sour

Here's the formula of what lead to what's next... A plethora of craft beers (most easily over 8.0 abv content), three dudes that have spent at least 4 years in Carbondale together, Waka Flaka blasting out some speakers, expensive Mezcal, Random breakfast items and of course an excaliber knife.

I call this one the gentlemen's sandwich. The secret is the extra tortilla flap that holds the contents so they don't spill out while you eat it drunk. Genius!

Abe approved

All in all it was great to be back in Carbondale kicking it with the old homies... Pickel and I drove back to Chicago the next morning and I am back in the comforts of my own home. Thanks for reading and now I leave you with a gif of Pickel enjoying the DJ skills of Abe.